Chapter 45

It wasn't long before the wolfstags all began to dig into their meal spread before them. A forest of their horns spread above them, showing that they all were face down in the flesh, devouring the decadent distraction they'd successfully slain. I quickly gestured to the rest of the pack to begin our approach, and we immediately set off to begin the hunt.

While we started as quietly as we could muster, with nearly fifty bodies moving there was bound to be at least some noise. We'd made it maybe halfway across the clearing towards the wolfstags when one of the two larger specimens popped its head up. Without letting it begin to process what it could see, I began sprinting, the rest of my pack following suit behind me. A part of me wondered if Percral would flee again, but if he did, I could deal with that later. For now, it was time to begin the slaughter. 

Our prey began to rally themselves, pulling their heads from the carcasses as I let out the most piercing, bone-rattling scream I'd ever heard or imagined. "VICTORY!" The sound, against all my understanding of echoes, echoed around and around the clearing instead of being swallowed by the surrounding vegetation. My cry was repeated by my pack and I felt myself growing more energetic and ready for the upcoming battle while the pack around me surged forward even more swiftly. 

I didn't need to give assignments of which wolfstag to attack to each pack, groups separated by themselves and began to swarm our prey. The small, weak wolfstags immediately began to cry out in fear and challenge while the two larger ones strode forward to try to stop the wave of scaled attackers. Took and I each met them head on. These two were larger than us two, a couple of inches taller than us at the shoulder, but not nearly so imposing as that which we had encountered before.

I heard the jarring thud of bone on bone beside me, apparently of Took smashing her horns into her chosen prey, and then [Bloodlust] overcame me. With my left arm I feinted, and as the wolfstag responded to the false attack I instead reached down with my right arm and seized one of its forelegs. I dug my claws deep into flesh and felt tendons begin to separate beneath my slicing claws. The wolfstag yelped and immediately bit down towards me. I released, but too late. It caught my arm in its jaws and attempted to shred the muscles and bones making up my right shoulder. I didn't hardly react to the feeling of my tearing flesh, the [Bloodlust] allowing me to disregard the pain in exchange for the deadly series of blows.

With a swift stab forward, I plunged my left hand deep into the wolfstag's eye, the eyeball exploding before the force of my attack. It immediately howled in agony and reared back while releasing me. I didn't let it get any space as I felt the prickling of electricity across my scales. I knew it was going to try to flee, so I dodged under its head on its blinded right side. Between my growth and the comparative decrease in size compared to the last, I didn't fit under the wolfstag, but I didn't need to fit underneath, I just needed to reach.

My jaws, closing with all the force I could muster, cut completely through the wolfstag's throat. It immediately sagged to the ground as it coughed and its lifeblood began to pour out onto the soil underfoot. Before it could react or try to gather itself, the wolfstag was set upon by another five eager keelish. I disregarded the finished prey, searching for another. My thirst for slaughter had yet to be slaked.

Beside me, Took was on her back foot, fighting defensively against the comparatively more powerful wolfstag. It had covered itself with a wreath of electricity and it seemed to me that the individual was more magically inclined than most of its kind. I didn't care. I leapt up, and disregarding the jolting pain coursing through me, I seized one of the largest antlers in my jaws and began to shake it with all my strength. The wolfstag was knocked off balance by my attack, and Took immediately seized upon the opportunity, latching deep on our prey's throat. I nodded in approval and turned to the rest of the hunt.

The other five wolfstags were already being brought to the ground, their legs pulled apart so they couldn't move while others piled onto their bodies in ravenously biting swarms. They were slightly larger than the unremarkable members of the pack, but smaller than Took and I, or even Treel. I was shocked out of my [Bloodlust] to notice that Percral was facing against one of the five smaller specimens all alone. He opened his mouth wide, screaming in challenge as he lunged forward and bit over the entirety of the other wolfstag's snout, holding its mouth closed. With all his bodily strength, he lifted the wolfstag from its feet and, keeping his bite firm, smashed his prey into the ground before continuing to maul it while sparks danced ineffectively across his body.

With my [Bloodlust] forcibly shaken from me, I realized I needed to participate in the hunt of at least one more of the wolfstags to complete my [Quest], so I hurried over to one of the packs that didn't have one of the leaders in it and quickly helped dispatch the prey. Before long, the clearing had gone quiet except for Percral who stood over the body of the wolfstag he had hunted and bit deep into it again and again, twisting his head and slamming the corpse of the wolfhound into the ground over and over again. As Percral began to slow to a stop, my pack members all looked around, making sure that the rest had finished the hunt. After a couple of moments of observation, I took in the sight of our flawless victory. Took had a couple of scorch marks and looked a little dazed, and there were a couple of minor injuries through the pack, but nothing noteworthy.

I scanned the pack, pleased to note our generally healthy state. Took and Treel both approached me, hesitant.

"Alpha, are you alright?"

"How can… help?"

The two females seemed concerned about me specifically and I cocked my head, confused, "What would I need help with?"

They both looked at my right arm, and as I looked down myself, I stopped subconsciously blocking out the agony.

Suns burn me.